by Yoon Cannon | General, Business Growth Tips Blog, Success Mindset, Success Mindset
Reader’s Question: I’ve heard you speak at a recent conference and you mentioned map mapping as a technique you do in business planning. Can you explain more about how to do mind mapping? — Frank Rosen, San Francisco, California
Yoon’s Answer: Great questions Frank. Yes, I was referring to mind mapping to help you clarify how to reach your BHAG –big, hairy audacious goal. So, what can you do today to make progress on your biggest goal? What’s holding you back? If you don’t know, take some time and write your goal on the top of a piece of paper.
Next, write down everything you can think of that you’ll need to do to accomplish this goal. Then, put them in order. If you don’t know where to start, that’s a starting place. Write down everything you think needs to be done. Where can you get more information? Can you do some research online to get a better idea for what you need to know? Can you enlist the help of a mentor or coach?
Sometimes it helps to mind map an idea, especially if it’s really messy. If you don’t know what a mind map is, here’s how it works.
1–Take a piece of paper and write your idea in the center. Maybe you want to make more sales or close more clients.
2–Then, you can write “close more clients” in the center. From there, you’ll draw lines radiating out from the center and write down every way you can think of to make this happen. Maybe it’s making more phone calls or becoming more visible in your industry. Write down everything.
When you’re done, you may have a messy piece of paper, but you’ll also have completed a terrific brainstorm and can now use th
is to create an action plan for yourself.
Here’s what it’ll look like.
You can do it on paper or use mind mapping software like www.Mindmeister.com–the choice is yours. What’s important is that you make a plan for your success and take action!
Try your hand at mind mapping and share your results below.
If you have more questions about mind mapping post your questions in the comment box below. Here’s to Your Success!
Yoon ~
About Yoon Cannon: Top business coach Yoon Cannon has helped thousands of small business owners, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and sales teams achieve dramatic results in growing your business. Over the past 20 years Yoon has started 4 successful companies and sold 3 of them. She offers fresh insights as a seasoned business growth expert. Yoon delivers proven process for your sales, marketing and management development. Grab free valuable gifts and resources at https://www.ParamountBusinessCoach.com To book Yoon to speak at your next event email: YoonCannon@ParamountBusinessCoach.com To schedule a complimentary business coaching consultation call (215) 292-4947.
© Copyright 2016
by Yoon Cannon | General, Business Growth Tips Blog, Success Mindset
Mind mapping can be a great tool to jog your memory around a topic and get all your ideas down. Because it’s visual, it can help you literally “see” areas where you can branch out on an idea or where you’ve forgotten an important point.
You can download a software program like mindmeister or even do this with a piece of paper and a pen. The way it works is you write your idea or topic in the middle of a piece of paper. Then you write all the ideas you can think of around that topic. Some will be a clear sub topic, write that on it’s own line. Others will go under those sub topics so you put them under it.
The end result is a messy brainstorm that lets you see where the gaps are and how you should organize your material. It’s a great tool for times when you feel overwhelmed about a project so you can see it in a “big picture” way.
About Yoon Cannon: Top business coach Yoon Cannon has helped thousands of small business owners, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and sales teams achieve dramatic results in growing your business. Over the past 20 years Yoon has started 4 successful companies and sold 3 of them. She offers fresh insights as a seasoned business growth expert. Yoon delivers proven process for your sales, marketing and management development. Grab free valuable gifts and resources at https://www.ParamountBusinessCoach.com To book Yoon to speak at your next event email: YoonCannon@ParamountBusinessCoach.com To schedule a complimentary business coaching consultation call (215) 292-4947.
© Copyright 2016
by Yoon Cannon | General, Business Growth Tips Blog, Marketing and Sales Blog Posts, Success Mindset
Note From Yoon …
The summer is a great time to spend on sharpening your skills. One of the most valuable skill to have in your business development toolbox is the skill of public speaking. Why? Because it helps to quickly build your expertise platform. Speaking allows you to leverage your time from marketing one – one to one to many. Speaking builds strong know-like-trust factor with your audience.
Recently, when I was speaking at a Chamber of Commerce event I was approached by an audience member who remarked she wished she was a naturally gifted speaker like me. I thanked her for the kind compliment, but had to correct her that speaking is actually a skill you can learn.
So, friends here’s today’s blog article on how you can sharpen your speaking skills to quickly build your expertise and attract more clients for your business. Enjoy!
Public Speaking Tips for Business People
People who listen to a great public speaker often refer to that person as a “natural.” While some people have a natural ability to know what the audience wants to hear, the majority of great speakers became skilled with practice. Professional speakers have had thousands of opportunities to try their skills in front of people. Learning from the professionals is another way to enhance your own skills.
1. Keep the end in sight
The best way to start the speech writing process is to have the end in mind. What is it you want to leave people with? What is the goal of the speech or presentation? How do you want to impact your audience with your speech? When you have a clear understanding of the outcome you want to achieve, you can be focused on that goal as you prepare.
2. Keep the message simple
You are an expert in your field, so there will be the tendency to give people much more information than they can digest. Your goal is to come up with a few simple points that support your message, and give just enough detail to make it relevant, understandable or entertaining. If you bury your audience in facts, figures and details, they will still be digging themselves out at the end of your presentation, and will have lost the message in all of the other information you gave them.
3. Know the space and the people
Know the audience and the room in which you’ll be speaking. There are times when you don’t get the chance to prepare. When you can, mingle with people as they walk in. Stroll through the room, taking note of the best and worst places to hear you. Take a mental poll of the mood of the crowd. The more you feel familiar with the people and the space, the more comfortable you’ll be during your presentation.
This is especially important for speakers who often present to busy people. For example, the current CEO of Ernst & Young, Mark Weinberger, was appointed as Assistant Secretary (Tax Policy) of the U.S. Treasury by President George W. Bush. His role was to help Congress understand the convoluted tax policy. Getting to know the people he would be speaking with and the venues in which he would present allowed CEO Mark Weinberger to explain this very complicated topic to a room full of very busy people. When the subject matter you’re speaking about is complicated, knowing your audience allows you to better convey your ideas effectively.
4. Tell a good story
Work on being a good storyteller. This is one way to connect with your audience. When you are able to share something that shows a little of your vulnerabilities, people will think, “Ah, he is one of us.” You can give the audience a lot of information, of which they may retain only a little. Or, you can make them remember how you made them feel by telling a story including personal challenges and accomplishments.
5. Project your message with your entire body
Body language is also “speaking” to the audience as much as the words you say. Match your body movements with the message you are delivering. Until you are comfortable with your own speaking style, have someone shoot a video of you presenting, and watch yourself. The best advice is to be and act naturally. Forced body expressions are always noticed.
Watch some of the great speakers, and notice the ease with which they get an important message across to the audience. They, too, had to learn these tips, and watch other speakers in order to create their own unique speaking style. Consider joining a public speaking organization, such as Toastmasters International, to improve on your skills.
What public speaking tips to you have? Share them in the comments.
About Yoon Cannon: Top business coach Yoon Cannon has helped thousands of small business owners, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and sales teams achieve dramatic results in growing your business. Over the past 20 years Yoon has started 4 successful companies and sold 3 of them. She offers fresh insights as a seasoned business growth expert. Yoon delivers proven process for your sales, marketing and management development. Grab free valuable gifts and resources at https://www.ParamountBusinessCoach.com To book Yoon to speak at your next event email: YoonCannon@ParamountBusinessCoach.com To schedule a complimentary business coaching consultation call (215) 292-4947.
© Copyright 2016
by Yoon Cannon | General, Business Growth Tips Blog, Time Management/Productivity
If you’re a small business owner your livelihood depends on your ability to make business happen. Personal productivity for entrepreneurs is top on the list of skills you MUST MASTER.
If you’ve ever gotten to the office early determined to make headway on an important project but instead got caught up in the daily tasks of the office you know the frustration of being constantly busy without feeling productive.
Lots of people are busy all day but they don’t make any progress on their long term goals.
Returning calls and emails, attending to meetings that further the goals of other people–these may be things you have to do–at least some of the time–but if you’re not clear on your long term goals, you aren’t moving forward in your business.
If you ever feel like you’re stuck or spinning your wheels, take a look at your schedule. How many activities are geared towards you reaching your long term goals and how many are putting out fires and attending to others’ needs?
Steven Covey, author of 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, breaks down schedules into four distinct components.
Important and urgent
Important but not urgent
Urgent but not important
Not urgent not important
Personal Productivity Tip #1:
When you make your to do list, highlight the ones that are Important but Not Urgent–whether it’s furthering your professional education or getting published regularly in a trade journal you have to take steps to make your goals happen.
Personal Productivity Tip #2:
Look at your schedule–what can you delegate or delete in your life to make time for the things that matter to you? If you had a boss, and that boss required you to prune back 20% of your weekly activities, which tasks would you rank as your lowest producing time investment?
No matter what your situation you have some options. You could get up an hour earlier to spend 60 minutes a day paving the way to your success. If an hour seems difficult, find 15 minutes a day to move yourself forward in your goals. 15 minutes a day over a 5 day work week adds up to 75 minutes. Those 75 minutes add up to 5 hours over a month. Now, what can you accomplish in 5 hours? Break it down into 15 minute chunks and put it on your calendar.
Personal Productivity Tip #3:
Identify which routine tasks could you delegate to another to free up more time.
Outsourcing is becoming more and more common. Websites like Upwork.com, Guru.com and Rentacoder.com can help you find short term or longer term help for your routine tasks.
Or, maybe, you don’t need to do it at all. Depending on your business, there may be aspects you just don’t need to do anymore, or you shouldn’t be doing right now. Take for instance one of my startup clients. This NYC businesswoman was launching her second company. When she finally asked me to coach her she was pretty exhausted burning the candle at both ends. What we found out was that she was spending a huge amount of time designing her website herself (when she never did this before) and applying for patents. She was frustrated that business wasn’t happening soon enough. During our coaching sessions, she quickly became aware that she was focusing her time on all the wrong areas. She was working feverishly on stage 7 while skipping right over stages 1-6. She realized that if she would first lay the foundation in the sequential order that her time is then truly productive and results begin to happen much quicker and easier.
Personal Productivity Tip #4:
Regularly review your long term goals. Keeping your eye on the prize requires reminders of where you want to go and how you need to spend your time now to make sure you get there.
My challenge question for you is — “how long have you been tolerating low personal productivity in yourself?” The trap that blinds so many entrepreneurs from losing awareness is the thinking that because you’re so busy every day you are being highly productive.
I put together a free template to help you start focusing on the key result areas in your business. You can download the Millionaire Productivity Time Template here: https://stage.paramountbusinesscoach.com/millionaire-productivity-time-template/
QUESTION: What is your best strategy that keeps you focused on working in your key result areas? Please share your thoughts in the comment box below:
© Copyright 2018-2019
by Yoon Cannon | General, Business Growth Tips Blog, Success Mindset, Success Mindset
Note From Yoon
Sometimes it’s those little things in life that speak loudly on the big lessons worth learning.
I noticed this tiny little ant who was carrying a piece of food that was bigger than his own size. He didn’t seem to slow down his pace even though the temperature was scorching hot on this summer afternoon. He didn’t even pause when I watched him occasionally slip into the crevices of my porch floor. He was one motivated ant!
It reminded me of the immense power that motivation has on us. As business owners we are bound to occasionally lose our footing and slip into those crevices of setbacks.
The right motivation can empower you with the strength to keep moving forward to your goal. Read today’s blog article and please share your comments and questions on how you can stay in peak motivation.
Here’s to Your Success~
Superman’s Motivation – Do You Have It?
The world knew Christopher Reeve as a Super hero. He could leap tall buildings in a single bound as he righted injustices.
Then, in real life, he fell from his horse and suffered a spinal injury that left him paralyzed from his neck down. He could have felt sorry for himself for the rest of his life. But, instead, he confined his sorrow to a good cry each morning and then got on with it.
“In the morning, I need twenty minutes to cry,” he said. “To wake up and make that shift, you know, and to just say, “This really sucks”…to really allow yourself the feeling of loss…still needs to be acknowledged.” But after his long, hard cry each day, he would tell himself, “And now, forward!”
Reeve operated his wheelchair by blowing through or sipping on a straw. Yet he still traveled around the country speaking at Commencement addresses, directing movies and was a spokesperson for finding medical cures for quadriplegics.
He was determined to not to let the very real obstacle of being paralyzed keep him from living a life worth living. He can be an inspiration to all of us. (more…)
by Yoon Cannon | General, Business Growth Tips Blog, Outsourcing and Hiring Tips Blog
Management books will tell you recognition, incentives, support and clear goals are essential to motivating employees. But a recent study by the Harvard Business Review (HBR) says otherwise. (Read about it at HBR’s 10 Breakthrough Ideas for 2010.)
Tracking daily activities, emotions and motivation levels of hundreds of workers, over several years, researchers found that good, ol’ fashioned – progress–not cash, not bonuses, not paid cruise vacations– is what motivates staff and keeps them engaged.
In the study, HBR asked participants to maintain and send daily email diaries. The analysis of nearly 12,000 entries combined with the writer’s own ratings of their moods and motivations showed a consistency that throws traditional management philosophy right out the window.
Here’s a typical scenario. In this case, an information systems professional was thrilled that she’d finally figured out a solution to an ongoing problem. Her daily diary entry stated, “I felt relieved and happy because this was a minor milestone for me”.
Across the board, the excitement of making progress–even baby steps–was cause for joy. As many as 76% of participants’ reported they felt happiest when they’d accomplished something.
As a business coach I can certainly vouch for that! I hear it all the time. In fact, I heard those exact words at a conference where I was the keynote speaker for a regional group of Law Firms. They unanimously felt unhappy with their productivity because there’s so much thrown at them everyday that they rarely feel as if they’ve completed and accomplished something.
Compare this response with the typical management philosophy that feeling supported or collaborating with colleagues is more important. The study showed 53% ranked their best days when collaboration occurred and only 25% ranked interpersonal support as happening on their best days. Even more surprising, only 19% ranked their “best days” as when they had work they considered important.
In a start up environment, progress is crucial to getting the project off the ground, to turning profitable and even to having a business or job a few months down the road. But more stable environments may not have that same ferocity of pace and sometimes may not seem to change all that much. A lawyer’s office may have a consistent tone from the perspective of some staff, new clients come in, cases are handled, cases are closed. But you can still help keep your staff’s motivation high by ensuring they have the support they need when learning a new skill.
When your employees encounter setbacks–and they will, it’s an inevitable part of life–find out what the obstacle is and how you or someone else can help them.
What work concerns do your employees struggle with? Ask them. Here’s an innovative approach:
Ask your staff “what are the challenges that affect your productivity and performance? … and how can I better support you to circumvent those challenges?”
At one time the response from support staff at a younger 3M replied that clutter, filing and emails were a constant challenge for the people to stay on top of their performance goals. So, what did 3M do? They instituted a company wide practice to dedicate every Friday morning for all company employees to devote to filing, decluttering and cleaning out email inboxes. Wow! So, what can we all learn from the example of 3M?
1. They asked
2. They listened
3. They demonstrated support
Some of the top challenges I hear about in both my small business and in my large corporate clients is technology — especially understanding how to use specific software programs.
There are many ways to motivating your employees. Focus on making them feel they’re making progress. According to the HBR study, your job as their boss is to offer solutions to setbacks. The other part of your job is to be decisive when you set goals or make a decision and stick to them. Being indecisive frustrates employees.
Often, a fresh, outside perspective can do wonders for diagnosing the reason for low employee engagement and offering the road map for motivating your employees. If you are struggling with developing high performing leaders in your organization, I invite you to connect with me to discuss how I can help you. Reach me at (215) 292-4947 EST.
QUESTION: What has worked the best for you in motivating your employees? Please share your comments below.
About Yoon Cannon: Top business coach Yoon Cannon has helped thousands of small business owners, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and sales teams achieve dramatic results in growing your business. Over the past 20 years Yoon has started 4 successful companies and sold 3 of them. She offers fresh insights as a seasoned business growth expert. Yoon delivers proven process for your sales, marketing and management development. Grab free valuable gifts and resources at https://www.ParamountBusinessCoach.com To book Yoon to speak at your next event email: YoonCannon@ParamountBusinessCoach.com To schedule a complimentary business coaching consultation call (215) 292-4947.
© Copyright 2016
